In the debates that followed Snowden’s revelations, many policymakers embraced a familiar narrative. Strong encryption allegedly creates a “going dark” problem, and the solution should be some form of “good backdoor” that lets authorities access encrypted communications when the law so requires. A recent paper by Francesco Bruschi, Marco Esposito, Andrea Rizzini and Ivan Visconti, Deflating
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Category: cryptography
Seventeen years since the bitcoin whitepaper: the day trust went decentralized
Seventeen years ago today, on November 1, 2008, an anonymous figure using the name Satoshi Nakamoto shared a nine-page document with a small cryptography mailing list. Its title was simple — “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System.” Yet within those pages lay the seed of a transformation that would ripple across technology, economics, and political thought. The paper’s premise was
Continue reading Seventeen years since the bitcoin whitepaper: the day trust went decentralized
The Italian and European efforts on the transition to post-quantum cryptography (PQC) for critical infrastructures and digital services.
The Quantum threat and the urgent need for PQC The coming era of quantum computing threatens to undermine much of the cryptographic infrastructure we rely on today. The asymmetrical algorithms that protect data, communications and digital services may, in time, become vulnerable. In response, both the European Commission and the Italian government have signalled that
Continue reading The Italian and European efforts on the transition to post-quantum cryptography (PQC) for critical infrastructures and digital services.
End-to-End Encryption (E2EE) and the problems associated with backdoors
What is End-to-End Encryption (E2EE)? End-to-End Encryption (E2EE) is a communication system designed to ensure that messages are readable only by the communicating parties. The fundamental principle is that the key used for encryption and decryption is known only to the endpoints, i.e., the users’ devices. This is different from non-E2EE systems, such as traditional email or
Continue reading End-to-End Encryption (E2EE) and the problems associated with backdoors
Quantum computers and cryptocurrencies
The threat quantum computing poses to cryptocurrency is likely overstated for the present but demands attention for the future. A report by Chinese researchers using a D-Wave quantum computer has suggested potential risks to encryption algorithms, such as RSA, commonly used in banking and security systems. However, this device is a quantum annealer rather than
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CIFRIS23: The First National Cryptography Congress of De componendis cifris
An event organized by De Cifris – Rome 14-15 December 2023 All events take place at CONSOB headoffice and will also be streamed on CONSOB’s YouTube channel.